“Maybe, yeah. But first you’re going to go see Mr. Carson. He’s going to yell at you a lot. Just take it and say you’re sorry. Say it a lot.” She leaned in and hugged me. “Don’t worry, he won’t fire you for your first fuck up.”
It took a while to get my face cleaned up and apply regular makeup. After I was done with that, I took my verbal beating from Mr. Carson with as much sorrow as I could muster. I was still terrified about what happened, but I understood why he had safety precautions in place for such a volatile business. The experience had soured me on stripping and I wasn’t sure I would even come back the next day. The idea of going into a booth with a guy again for a lap dance scared me. Once Mr. Carson was done with me, I walked out into the main part of the bar and saw the guy that intervened sitting at the bar with a beer.
“I owe you a debt of gratitude.” I took a seat next to him.
“You do?” He turned with a blank look on his face, tilted his head, and then he recognized me. “Oh, hey. You look different without the eighties hair and whore attire.”
“Yes, my real name is Johanna, not Scarlett. I just want to blend into the crowd right now and not be part of the show.” I shook my head back and forth. “Anyway, I just wanted to say thank you.”
“You don’t have to thank me. That guy was a prick. That kind of shit doesn’t happen around here normally.” He finished his beer and motioned to the bartender. “Want a beer?”
“Sure.” I nodded and shrugged.
Melinda was definitely right about Cody. He was unbelievably attractive. He looked like someone carved him from stone with enormous muscles that his shirt could barely contain. His beard was a bit longer than I would have liked, but it was well groomed. I had to force myself to look away from him when the bartender came back over. I had never tasted beer before. I wasn’t even old enough to drink. The bartender probably knew that, but he didn’t bat an eyelash when Cody ordered me one. I took the first taste and was immediately overcome with bitterness, which caused my face to wrinkle with disgust.
“I’m guessing that is your first beer?” He chuckled and sipped his.
“Yeah, I’m not a fan.” I rubbed my tongue against the roof of my mouth and across my lips to try and get rid of the taste.
“I’ll order you something fruity.” He waved the bartender back over for a replacement drink.
I pushed the beer over to Cody and he put it next to his. I was pretty sure I would never touch beer again. The next drink that the bartender brought over tasted much better. It had a hint of melon and was extremely sweet. I knew there was alcohol in it, which I assumed was responsible for the strong aftertaste, but it wasn’t noticeable. I took several sips through a small straw before putting it down on the counter and turning my attention back to Cody.
“Is that one better?” Cody smiled and sipped his beer again.
“Yes, much better.” I nodded enthusiastically. “So what do you do when you’re not saving damsels in distress?”
“I fuck strippers.” His tone was steady and I tried to read his face to determine if he was kidding or not. “Well, they’re not all strippers, I guess.”
“I mean, outside of this place.” I moved my hand in a circle, motioning to the club.
“I usually fuck them at my apartment.” His face was as emotionless as a statue and I got the feeling he was actually being serious.
“So, you don’t have a job? You just screw strippers and not-strippers all day?” I raised my eyebrows and tilted my head.
“I’m a mechanic. I work at my father’s shop.” His face finally showed semblance of emotion again. “What about you? Who do you fuck?”
“Me? Nobody!” I shook my head back and forth.
“So, you’re single.” He turned towards me and moved closer. “That’s the best news I’ve heard all day.”
“It’s temporary.” I slid back on my stool so that he wasn’t practically touching me. “I almost got married last week.”
“Married?” His eyebrows raised in surprise. “But now you’re single? That sounds like a good story.”
“I’ll tell you all about it if you get me another one of these.” I drained the last drop from my drink and clinked the ice in the glass.
“Coming right up.” He turned towards the bartender and waved.
I was aware that I had a buzz, but after what I had experienced earlier in the evening, it felt simply amazing. I finally understood why people liked alcohol so much. It made me quite chatty, and before I knew it, I was spilling the entire saga of my life to someone I had just met. He listened intently, sipping his beer throughout my entire spiel. When I got to the part about running away on my wedding day, his mouth fell open in shock. I was amazed by his attentiveness. I was so used to Scott barely looking at me when we had a conversation. Cody reacted like I was telling the most interesting story he had ever heard.
“You literally ran away and became a stripper.” He started laughing and his eyes lit up. “My god, that is fucking incredible.”
“I needed money and I want to go to college. I can’t do that if I’m holding down four jobs.” I shrugged and sipped my drink.
“How did you end up here? This is like the worst place in Reno to start stripping at.” His eyebrows came together in a concerned expression. “Like, it is literally the absolute worst place. If you ranked them, this place would be dead last.”
“I just looked in the phone book. This was the closest one to my apartment.” I leaned back on my stool and took another sip. “What’s so bad about it? Aren’t all strip clubs terrible?”